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Call for Papers

The “Collecting and Collectibles Area” of the Popular Culture Association invites papers on “Collecting in/as Crisis” for the 2026 National PCA/ACA Conference. We would especially like to encourage submissions that contribute new directions and calls to the existing scholarship on “Collecting in/as Crisis” and particularly address how collections/collectibles and their institutions and practices involve or respond to natural, cultural, economic, environmental, health, epistemic crises, etc.  

Possible topics for presentations include but are not limited to:

·         Collecting as systemic violence

·         Collecting as cultural erasure

·         Collecting as obsessive acquisition 

·         Wartime memorabilia

·         Collecting as cultural preservation

·         Pandemic collectibles: masks and diaries

·         Eco-archiving and speculative futures

·         Crisis and Digital collecting

·         Memes and hashtags on crisis

·         Curatorial practices in crisis zones

·         Resistance to collecting

·         Collecting as activism

·         Traumatic collecting

·         Collecting and censorship

·         Collecting as emotional labor 

·         Venerating loss through collecting 

·         Culinary collectibles and crisis recipes

·         Storm collectibles

·         Economic crisis and numismatics 

·         Collecting interviews and natural disasters

·         Maritime crisis and nautical books and collectibles 

·         Fandom memorabilia and financial strains

·         Fandom memorabilia and environmental crisis

·         Economic crisis and vintage collecting

·         Crisis archives

Interested individuals are asked to submit an abstract of no more than 250 words (including presentation title); 100-word mini-biography, complete contact information (name, institutional affiliation, mail and e-mail addresses, and contact telephone number).  

Submissions will only be accepted through  PCA website. Please send all inquiries to:

Majda R. Atieh, m.atieh@squ.edu.om , Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

Important Dates to Remember:

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026